World | Pakistan

Nine killed in industrial accident

Police fire to disperse street protest

By Mohammad Ashraf, Correpsondent

Published: 18:38 May 3, 2014

Karachi: At least nine labourers, including four of a family, died in an industrial accident in Dera Esmail Khan district triggering street protests by the people against the authorities and apathy of industrialists.

The incident took place at the north Pakistani town of Ramak yesterday evening when the labourers were returning to their homes after work.

A woman and a girl fell down into the open drainage carrying chemical waste of the sugar mill where they worked. The fumes emitting from the waste made them faint, the police sources said.

Many men jumped into the toxic drainage to rescue the woman and the girl but they too fainted and drowned.

Five people including the girl and the women died on the spot whereas four people died at the hospital during treatment. Four of them belonged to one family.

Funeral prayers were held in the Ramak town and after the prayers agitated people took over the streets and proceeded towards the sugar mill in protests of the deaths.

They gathered outside the main gate of the mills and tore it apart. They also burnt down a heap of hay inside the factory.

Police had to fire tear gas and baton charged to disperse the protesters demanding arrest of the management of the sugar mills.

The district administration announced that the monetary compensation would be announced for the victims’ families.